Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has called for a plan and additional resources to tackle fraud and scams, following a massive increase in the crime.

Sinn Féin are calling for the Government to bring forward a multi-annual plan to tackle these crimes as citizens feel increasingly vulnerable to the criminal actions of fraudsters.

Speaking today, Teachta Crowe said:

“Figures released to Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty by the Department of Justice show an alarming and massive increase in financial fraud and scams across the State.

“Since 2019, instances of investment fraud have risen by 258%. Account Takeover Fraud has increased by a staggering 560%. Romance fraud has risen by 83%, while scams through phishing, smishing (scam text messages) and vishing (scam phone calls) have increased by 417%.

“Citizens are being robbed of millions of euros each year by fraudsters and by these statistics, it’s clearly getting worse.

“In 2020, the Hamilton Report recommended the development of a multi-annual strategy to combat economic crime – two and half years later, the Government is yet to publish a multi-annual plan to tackle economic crime and fraud. This is not acceptable; a plan is needed and additional resources put in place to tackle these scammers.

“Banks and An Garda Síochána still do not have a Shared Fraud Database to tackle fraud and protect consumers – despite banks repeatedly calling for it to be established.

“Government inaction is leaving citizens exposed and it is the most vulnerable who are being scammed and robbed of their hard earned savings.

“There is hardly a day that goes by when most of us are contacted by phone or by email by these fraudsters. The schemes are getting more and more sophisticated and regular.

“We also know that payment systems providers are not required to compensate victims of these types of fraud and scams – something that will soon be required in the North.

“Consumers must be protected so that they can have confidence that they won’t be left vulnerable and out of pocket to these ever more frequent crimes. The government need to get serious about tackling this growing level of fraud.”